(On the key to containing Roscoe Parrish in the return game) - “This sounds easy, but we’ve got to get down the field, we’ve got to disrupt them early. Kind of try to make him move his feet a little bit that way, but tackle. This guy makes a lot of yards after the initial contact. He can make you miss. He does a tremendous job that way, I think. So, getting him on the ground would be important.”

(On if Michael Lehan tweaked his hamstring in practice a little bit this morning) - “He actually did, he tweaked it just a little bit. So, we’ll see where it is.”

(On Jason Ferguson looking a little better working out on the side) - “Yeah, he looked better today, so he did a lot of things out there. We’ll just have to see how he feels tomorrow. He did an awful lot today, yesterday, so we’ll have to see how he feels.”

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Before the Dolphins surprised everyone, including perhaps themselves, with those stirring and uplifting victories against New England and San Diego, we all had a clear vision of what this season was supposed to be.

The 2008 Dolphins were supposed to lay a foundation and give Bill Parcells and Jeff Ireland a mandate of what do to this coming spring to lift this team from the AFC East cellar to playoff relevance in 2009 and beyond.

But those unexpected victories took us on a fanciful detour that had some players talking about playoff berths and even Super Bowl possibilities this season.

Now consecutive defeats against mediocre Houston and Baltimore have snapped us out of that fleeting lie and allowed us to refocus our vision of 2008 where it should be:

On the future and on finding a franchise quarterback.

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He got the Gatorade shower on the sideline, got the game ball in the locker room and got a little moisture in the eyes when he said the ball was for his wife and kids.

“They went through a lot more than I did last year,” Cam Cameron was saying as he held up the ball again in the middle of the Baltimore locker room, his shirt still drenched and voice quivering.

He then tapped my notepad and smiled.

“I’m not going to give you anything for that,” he said.

Then he gave something anyway.

It was nothing, in some respects, because last year is a nothing story now. Yet this was a week where Cameron became a story line again, at least to some Dolphins players who should have known better. Cameron didn’t deserve to be called out by the likes of the usually thoughtful Vonnie Holliday.

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Channing Crowder’s a funny guy. He usually has a witty retort for questions that could easily be followed with a rim shot.

But following a career-best 13-tackle performance in Sunday’s 29-28 loss to the Texans, Crowder tried to mask his frustration by joking about his meager NFL salary.

When addressing Owen Daniels’ destructive four-catch performance again the Dolphins, Crowder pointed out the tight end gets paid “probably more than me.”

Crowder, who is in his fourth season as a starter for the Dolphins, is receiving a base salary of $1 million in the final year of a contract he signed as a third-round pick in 2005.

The Dolphins’ decision-makers have taken a wait-and-see approach with the Florida Gators product, trying to determine if Crowder can be the type of playmaker and leader needed before offering a more lucrative contract.

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DAVIE - Miami Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said there were many reasons for his team’s 29-28 loss at Houston on Sunday but that one part of the equation is simple enough.

The Dolphins have to take balls away from wide receivers more often when they are in defensive position.

“The games that we do, we win,” Sparano said Monday. “The games that we don’t, we haven’t.”

Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson was the latest big wide receiver to burn the Dolphins. His difficult 23-yard catch against safety Yeremiah Bell on fourth down kept alive Houston’s game-winning drive.

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HOUSTON - The Dolphins didn’t “eat the cheese,” as coach Tony Sparano likes to say, and take the winless Houston Texans lightly. But they did provide the whine.

Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter felt cheated by the officials, saying beleaguered referee Ed Hochuli and his staff “took it away.”

Safeties Renaldo Hill and Yeremiah Bell bemoaned that they were unable to come up with three gift-wrapped interceptions that allowed a sure victory slip away in a 29-28 loss Sunday that sucked the momentum from the Dolphins’ uplifting two-game winning streak.

Quarterback Chad Pennington said he experienced the gamut of emotions while watching his defense seemingly stop the Texans three separate times on their final 76-yard touchdown drive.

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Dave Hyde:  Andre Johnson shows what Dolphins are missing

Armando Salguero:  Loss exposes Dolphins’ playoff talk as premature

Dave George:  Why can’t the Dolphins beat the Texans?

If Dolphins running back Ronnie Brown’s touchdown success is going to continue this season, he might want to think about a new way to celebrate. Otherwise, this could be a very expensive season.

Brown and offensive linemen Vernon Carey and Ikechuku Ndukwe were fined as a result of their part in a prohibited choreographed celebration that included more than two people. Each player was hit with a $10,000 penalty by the NFL, according to league representative Corry Rush.

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DAVIE - Call ‘em the Dolfuns.

Because, suddenly, they’re having a blast.

They’ve gone from moribund to merry in the course of three weeks. It’s amazing what back-to-back victories - separated by an off date - can do for a team.

“Yeah, you could say the attitude is different,” running back Ronnie Brown said Monday. “The way everybody is responding to one another is starting to show.”

The Dolfuns are in a happy place for the first time in a very long while.

“I think,” said rookie head coach Tony Sparano, “they’re starting to figure out that there’s a method to our madness.”

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MIAMI GARDENS - One of Dolphins coach Tony Sparano’s favorite motivational messages to his players is: “Not today. It’s not going to happen today. We’ve got to turn it around.”

Sure, the Wildcat struck again and a resurgent Ronnie Brown scored the decisive touchdown on the unusual formation, but the stirring 17-10 victory over the high-powered San Diego Chargers on Sunday at Dolphin Stadium had little to do with gadget plays.

The Dolphins (2-2) wouldn’t let a special teams turnover spoil their second straight victory over a combatant from the 2007 AFC Championship Game. Nor would they allow Pro Bowl quarterback Philip Rivers or future Hall of Fame running back LaDainian Tomlinson ruin their first two-game winning streak since November 2006 and their seventh straight victory over the Chargers (2-3).

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Greg Cote:  All at once, Dolphins playing like contenders

Dave Hyde:  Dolphins don’t need gimmicks

(On Joey Porter picking up a sack during the bye week) - “How about that? It’s nice. Good things come in bunches.”

(On what it is about the Dolphins defense that is such a good match for Joey Porter) - “One of the things I think with Joey, and we went back to his Pittsburgh days, is just he’s just much more natural I think first of all, being to the open-end side. Kind of away from the tight end a little bit. It’s really more natural for him. It gives him a little bit more room in his pass rush. I think really what sets him aside and makes a difference for him in this defense is him in space. Rushing the passer as much as he rushes the passer, it’s something he does pretty well. I think he has excellent pass rush moves and pass rush ability. When the guy gets going, he really has a pretty good desire to get to the quarterback.”

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